Vernon Hills man denied bail in sexual abuse of 9 boys

A computer programmer from Vernon Hills was denied bail in a string sexual assaults against nine boys that stretches back at least five years, authorities said Monday.

Lake County officials said they couldn't remember a case with as many victims over such a prolonged period as the one against Michael Rebecca, 50, of the 700 block of Court of Birch.

"I haven't seen anything like this in Lake County before," State's Atty. Michael Waller said at a news conference. Waller has been in the post since 1990.

Associate Judge Theodore Potkonjak on Monday ordered Rebecca held without bail. Rebecca, who was arrested Friday, is charged with two counts of predatory sexual assault of a child and two counts of criminal sexual assault; prosecutors expect they will file more charges as their investigation unfolds. Police also are trying to find other children he may have abused.

"I think it would be foolish to say we have [identified] all the victims," said Sheriff Mark Curran.

In the bond hearing, Steve Scheller, chief of felony review for the state's attorney's office, said Rebecca, who works in Chicago, met one of the boys through the boy's aunt, a co-worker. He was a friend of the family who had known the boy since his birth, officials said.

Rebecca started abusing that boy, now 16, when he was 11, Curran said. The boy introduced Rebecca to other boys, who in turn lured more boys to the group, the sheriff said.

Curran said Rebecca never forced the boys but instead treated them as though they were in a club, even devising an elaborate initiation ceremony that involved tapping their genitals with a judge's gavel.

At Rebecca's apartment, the boys played games of sex acts either with each other or Rebecca, Scheller said. The prosecutor said Rebecca rewarded some boys with iPods, iPhones, video games, DVDs and cash.

Authorities were alerted to Rebecca Friday, when a 16-year-old boy reported to a Lake County sheriff's officer that he had been engaging in sex acts regularly with Rebecca and detailed a four-year history of abuse at Rebecca's Vernon Hills apartment, Scheller said.